Donald Trump has told Trevor Noah to "get his facts straight" over a joke he told at the Grammys last night. Meanwhile, Lord Mandelson has resigned from Labour over apparent payments he received from Jeffrey Epstein. Follow the latest on the Epstein files.
Monday 2 February 2026 10:16, UK
In the latest episode of Politics at Sam and Anne's, our deputy political editor Sam Coates asks whether there's still a major consequence to come following Lord Mandelson's resignation.
He says there could be a "soft left push" against Sir Keir Starmer's chief of staff Morgan McSweeney, who "drove" Mandelson's appointment.
Lord Mandelson and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor should both testify before the US Congress, the Tories have said.
"That is about getting to the truth, because these are very, very serious issues for those who have been deeply impacted," shadow chancellor Mel Stride says.
Stride tells Mornings with Ridge and Frost that Sir Keir Starmer "should have shown more backbone" and pushed Lord Mandelson out of Labour rather than allowing him to resign first.
He says that Lord Mandelson should be removed from the House of Lords.
Stride also tells Paste BN there should be a " full independent inquiry" into facts around the Epstein case.
He says: "More and more information is coming out of the woodwork through time. Now, some of it is contested by Lord Mandelson, and that's fine.
"But we do need to get to the truth. We need to get to the facts."
Donald Trump has threatened legal action against the host of last night's Grammy Awards after the comedian claimed the US president had visited Jeffrey Epstein's island.
"Song of the Year - that is a Grammy that every artist wants almost as much as Trump wants Greenland, which makes sense because Epstein's island is gone, he needs a new one to hang out with Bill Clinton," Trevor Noah said.
Trump hit back with a post on Truth Social, calling the awards ceremony "the WORST".
"Noah said, INCORRECTLY about me, that Donald Trump and Bill Clinton spent time on Epstein Island," he wrote.
"I can't speak for Bill, but I have never been to Epstein Island, nor anywhere close, and until tonight's false and defamatory statement, have never been accused of being there, not even by the Fake News Media."
Trump called on Noah to "get his facts straight" and threatened to sue the comedian.
An email from a New York prosecutor that was released last month said Trump flew on Epstein's private jet "many more times than previously has been reported".
The prosecutor said in an email on 7 January 2020 that flight records showed Trump had flown on Epstein's private jet eight times during the 1990s, but not to the island.
One lists Trump, as well as his son Eric, on a flight with "JE" and "GM" - believed to be Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell - between Florida and New Jersey on 13 August 1995.
Responding to the latest release, Trump said the documents had cleared him of allegations about his links with Epstein.
"I didn't see it myself but I was told by some very important people that not only does it absolve me, it's the opposite of what people were hoping, you know, the radical left," he said.
Watch his response...
In short, the Epstein files are millions of pages of documents that the US Department of Justice holds on the investigations into Jeffrey Epstein, the late sex offender.
Donald Trump signed a bill ordering the release of the files in November in a sudden reversal of his resistance to their publication.
Since then, the US Department of Justice has released millions of pages in several batches, the biggest coming on Friday.
The releases have fallen short, however, of what the bipartisan law in Congress demanded - the full release of the files at once.
The Epstein investigation
Epstein was awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges when he was found dead in his cell in 2019 at the age of 66.
The indictment alleged he sought out minors - some as young as 14 - from at least 2002 to 2005.
He was accused of paying them hundreds of dollars in cash for sexual acts at either his New York City townhouse or his estate in Palm Beach, Florida.
He was under investigation in Florida over allegations he preyed on a number of young victims in the mid-2000s.
Ultimately, he cut a deal to plead guilty to state charges involving just one minor.
The justice department said last year he had 1,000 victims.
Before Trump's order, tens of thousands of pages of "Epstein files" had become public over the past 20 years, many originating from victims' lawsuits against Epstein and previous criminal investigations.
Sir Keir Starmer "categorically" did not have all information on Lord Mandelson's links to Jeffrey Epstein when he appointed him as US ambassador in December 2024, a minister has told Mornings With Frost and Ridge.
Education minister Olivia Bailey said: "As soon as the information did become clear, rightly, the prime minister took swift action to remove Peter Mandelson as US ambassador."
Starmer sacked Lord Mandelson in September when further information about his links to Epstein were revealed.
Pushed by Sophy Ridge that Starmer knew enough about Mandelson's relationship with Epstein when he was appointed as ambassador, Bailey said the government "did not know about the extent and nature" of the relationship.
Asked whether Mandelson should testify in the US, she said: "Anybody with any information that could help secure justice for the victims should think very, very hard about that, should do that because the victims and their experiences must be our first priority."
One of the most high-profile names that appears in the Epstein files is Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
Three images from the latest tranche of documents appear to show him on all fours over a woman lying on the floor.
In two of the pictures, he appears to be touching the woman's stomach, while the other shows him looking straight at the camera.
The photos appear without explanation, date, or further context. There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing.
Epstein was promised 'lots of privacy' at Buckingham Palace
Emails suggest Mountbatten-Windsor invited Epstein to Buckingham Palace in September 2010 and promised "lots of privacy".
After Epstein requested "private time", Mountbatten-Windsor told him "alternatively we should have dinner at Buckingham Palace and lots of privacy".
In a statement issued on 17 October 2025, Mountbatten-Windsor said he "vigorously" denied the accusations against him.
In an email exchange in August 2010, Epstein told Mountbatten-Windsor he had "a friend who I think you might enjoy having dinner with" and disclosed the dates she would be in London.
Epstein said she was 26, Russian, "beautiful, trustworthy and yes she has your email".
Sir Keir Starmer has reiterated his call for Mountbatten-Windsor to testify to US Congress over his dealings with Epstein...
Correspondent Paul Kelso runs through the key documents that have emerged from the Epstein files in this explainer video.
Newly released footage shows Jeffrey Epstein facing questions in a sit-down interview. He discusses being a sex offender and is asked by the interviewer: "Do you think you're the devil himself?"
And apparent bank statements indicate the convicted sex offender paid Lord Mandelson $75,000 between 2003 and 2004.
Elon Musk has spoken out after he appeared in the latest batch of the Epstein files.
Emails showed Musk discussing his Tesla business with the disgraced financier in 2013.
A year earlier, Musk asked Epstein "what day/night will be the wildest party on your island?"
In a post on social media, Musk claimed "nobody has fought harder for full release of the Epstein files and prosecutions of those who abused children more than I did".
Musk said he knew "full well that the legacy media, far-left propagandists and those who are actually guilty would:
He added: "I knew that I would be smeared relentlessly, despite never having attended his parties or been on his 'Lolita Express' plane or set foot on his creepy island or done anything wrong at all.
"Nonetheless, the extreme pain of being accused of being the opposite of who I am was worth it. The strong must protect those cannot protect themselves, especially vulnerable children.
"I will gladly accept any amount of future pain to do more to protect kids and give them a chance to grow up and have happy lives."
By Jon Craig, chief political correspondent
In the end, it was a scandal too far, even for Mandelson.
The latest explosive Epstein revelations have forced him to resign from his beloved Labour Party, he says, to save the party from "further embarrassment".
It's difficult to imagine what could be more embarrassing than this weekend's disclosure of alleged payments by Jeffrey Epstein to his partner, claims of lobbying a Labour chancellor on tax policy, and being photographed wearing nothing more than a T-shirt and a pair of underpants.
Announcing his resignation from the party last night, he challenged some of the allegations in the Epstein files and repeated his claim that he had no record or recollection of the payments to his now husband.
He said he had written to Hollie Ridley, general secretary of the Labour Party, to say he was stepping down from his party membership.
But did he jump or was he pushed? Even if Sir Keir Starmer didn't demand his resignation, such an astute political operator as Lord Mandelson could see he couldn't remain in the party, and he had no alternative but to resign.
In his resignation letter, he wrote: "I have been further linked this weekend to the understandable furore surrounding Jeffrey Epstein and I feel regretful and sorry about this.
"Allegations which I believe to be false that he made financial payments to me 20 years ago, and of which I have no record or recollection, need investigating by me.
"While doing this I do not wish to cause further embarrassment to the Labour Party and I am therefore stepping down from membership of the party."
Lord Mandelson has resigned his membership of the Labour Party to avoid causing it "further embarrassment" after documents in newly released files appeared to show he received $75,000 from Jeffrey Epstein.
The latest batch of files released by the US Department of Justice includes three apparent bank statements detailing three money transfers of $25,000 each from the paedophile financier to the former British ambassador to Washington in 2003 and 2004.
It is unclear whether the payments ever made it into any named accounts.
Lord Mandelson, who was the Labour MP for Hartlepool when the files suggest the payments were alleged to have been made, resigned his membership of the party last night.
The peer, who has denied any record or recollection of the payments and questioned their authenticity, said in a statement he wanted "to repeat my apology to the women and girls whose voices should have been heard long before now".
The New Labour grandee, who was sacked as the UK's ambassador to the United States over his links to Epstein, appeared in a picture found in the files wearing only his underwear...
He said he felt "regretful and sorry" about weekend revelations linking him to "the understandable furore surrounding" Epstein, who took his own life in prison in 2019.
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